The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

slaves and are only called on by the true
drow when there is work to be done
or battles to be fought. In many drow
cultures, it is considered a shame for a
female drow of high standing to bear and
give birth to a half-drow.
A pregnant drow is the safest drow in the
world. Without exception, attacking or
injuring a pregnant female is forbidden
in drow societies and most temples will
offer sanctuary to any pregnant female
who requests it. A drow carrying a child
is not completely safe, of course. Her
enemies or those of her House may still
try to strike at her, but they will certainly
be much more careful in doing so and
many decide it is easier to simply wait
until she delivers the child before moving
against the currently-pregnant drow.
Childbirth is relatively easy for drow, as
for all elves, but is not without its dangers.
For the wealthy drow, there is ready
access to priests from the temples and the
healing magic they can provide, but for
the poor at the bottom levels of society,
there is no such help. Still, it is rare that
a drow woman dies in childbirth.
A common misperception about the
drow is that since they live for hundreds
of years, six to seven times the lifespan
of a human, that each stage of a drow’s life, from infancy
to childhood to adolescence, adulthood and so on must last
six to seven times as long as that stage lasts in a human
child. The drow would not have survived the perils of the
Underdeep if their young were effectively helpless for as
much as half a century. Drow children mature nearly as
quickly as do human children, until they reach puberty,
when the aging process begins to slow down. By the
age of 50, drow appear to be physically in their late teens
(from a human perspective) and have achieved the neartimelessness
of an adult.
The health of a drow throughout the course of his life is
greatly dependent upon his status in society. The nobility
and the wealthy can afford access to priestly healing magic,
whether it is to heal wounds received in battle, undo the
debilitating effects of a poison, cure a virulent disease,
regrow a lost limb or even return from the dead. The poor
have none of these even though their need is often greater,
labouring in the fungus pits, cleaning the streets or any
other occupation open to them which also exposes them to
greater risk of disease or accidental poisoning.
Death comes in many forms for the drow. Though they are
gifted with long life (though not quite so long as other races
of elves), it is uncommon for a drow to reach the end of his
allotted years. No matter the social status of a drow, his life
is full of hazards.
The lives of the poor, lower classes of the drow are under
frequent menace from disease and privation, living and
working as they do in the worst areas of a city. Scarcely
above slaves in the social order, their lives are rarely their
own and death may find them in the form of an escaped
beast, a rebellious slave, a common thief or a bored noble.
The wealthy and noble classes of the drow face an entirely
different but no less lethal set of dangers. Death from
assassination or duel is always lurking around the corner
- every cup may hold poison, every stranger might have
a knife in his hand. Though the extremely wealthy may
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